00:00:00.000 - 00:00:12.340

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus lifted me.

00:00:12.340 - 00:00:37.340

When I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me. Oh, when I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me. Oh, when I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me. Singing glory, hallelujah.

00:00:37.340 - 00:00:51.860

♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪

00:00:51.860 - 00:01:06.300

♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ Singing glory hallelujah ♪

00:01:06.300 - 00:01:20.640

♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ Jesus is my savior ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I said Jesus is my savior ♪

00:01:20.640 - 00:01:33.860

♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ Jesus is my savior ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ Singing glory hallelujah ♪

00:01:33.860 - 00:01:48.040

♪ Oh, Jesus, look at me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus, look at me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪

00:01:48.040 - 00:02:02.620

♪ Oh, Jesus, look at me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus, look at me ♪ ♪ Singing glory, hallelujah ♪

00:02:02.620 - 00:02:17.380

♪ Singing glory ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad Lord ♪

00:02:17.380 - 00:02:31.500

♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus lifted me ♪ ♪ Singing glory hallelujah ♪

00:02:31.500 - 00:02:41.800

♪ Glory hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing it ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah ♪ ♪ Jesus is with me ♪

00:02:41.800 - 00:03:03.020

- Amen, amen. Let's all say amen again. Amen, amen. Thy throne, O God, is forever.

00:03:03.020 - 00:03:22.660

The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

00:03:22.660 - 00:03:52.060

Therefore hath God anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The subject of the message, the oil of gladness. Psalm number 45 is identified with a festive occasion.

00:03:52.060 - 00:04:09.420

It's a happy occasion. It is a celebration of a wedding, the time when two persons promise their faithfulness to each other and enter the halls

00:04:09.420 - 00:04:24.580

of highest human happiness. This particular wedding is the marriage of the king and queen. It's a royal wedding.

00:04:24.580 - 00:04:50.580

So the entire nation is involved in this celebration because the royal crown is a symbol of the life of the nation. I remember a number of years ago, the people of the British Empire watched with considerable interest along with people from all over the world

00:04:50.580 - 00:05:13.580

as they sat with rapt attention before television sets, observing the royal wedding, the union of Prince Charles and Lady Diane. This is a wedding that takes place in Israel in the long ago,

00:05:13.580 - 00:05:46.540

ago and here we have a wedding hymn, this Psalm number 35. You notice that it has the superscription, "To him who grants victory upon roses by the sons of Korah, an instruction, the song of friendship." What we have here, a wedding associated with roses and friendship.

00:05:46.540 - 00:06:16.100

And when one is getting married, we like to think of life as being a bed of roses. While it is a very happy occasion as we think of roses, symbol of love and faithfulness, we do not have the roses without the thorns. The rose has its thorn.

00:06:16.100 - 00:06:36.260

And also we have friendship here. Every union has meaning when it is based on friendship. Friendship. Partners in the marital bond must be good friends.

00:06:36.260 - 00:07:04.140

If the bride and groom are not good friends, then there will be rough sailing all the way. Good friends. and friendship describe the king and queen in their beauty and majesty. Often when we consider the union of a couple I notice that there's far more concern

00:07:04.140 - 00:07:28.220

about the wedding than the marriage. Wedding has to do with the outer trappings. You know how many bridesmaids we have, how many groomsmen, what are they going to wear, what's going to be the decorative scheme that will be followed. And people are looking at those things.

00:07:28.220 - 00:07:49.580

They will talk about how this, what kind of ceremony was used and all of those things. And many times when I'm counseling with young couples, they're far more concerned about the wedding than the marriage. But you see the marriage takes place after the wedding because those things are just

00:07:49.580 - 00:08:09.660

the outer trappings. You can do all those things and still end up with not really having a good marriage. A beautiful wedding and a poor marriage. Some people who get together ought not ever have gotten together.

00:08:09.660 - 00:08:21.940

But that's what happens. So here's a wedding song, wedding song. Oh, I wish that many of our young people today would take more seriously

00:08:21.940 - 00:08:36.540

what it means to have a Christian wedding. Some of these songs they select coming from these popular song hits and they bring them in

00:08:36.540 - 00:08:51.080

and you wonder whether or not you're in church to say nothing about asking the Lord to bless you. And some people have the idea that, "Well, this is my wedding. I'll have whatever I want." Well, it ought to be in keeping with the Christian tradition.

00:08:51.080 - 00:09:17.000

If you're asking God to bless it, then you expect to have a Christian wedding. It's just not what you want. It's what you really have prepared in seeking to create an atmosphere that God will smile upon and grant it his blessings. So you see all of these

00:09:17.000 - 00:09:48.000

things such as the externals have to do with the outer trappings and in this particular wedding hymn the psalmist does not glorify the crowd. You know many people would say, "Oh, did you see the king's crown? How many jewels were in that crown? How it looks and all of that. Did you see those robes that the king had on? Oh, those

00:09:48.000 - 00:10:21.400

were imported from Arabia. And look at his sandals, all of those things." Well, you see, the psalmist is not concerned primarily with these outer trappings. He's not really concerned about the kind of dress that the Queen has on. These things have their place. The Royal Crown may have its shining brilliance and its glittering jewels, but

00:10:21.400 - 00:10:54.000

the spotlight is not on the Royal Crown or the Royal Scepter, that staff up at taun which is the emblem of royal authority. Neither does the psalmist glorify that beautiful white fur that is used as decorative trim on the royal robe. You see these are just the outer trappings, beautiful though they may be, nevertheless they are just the outer

00:10:54.000 - 00:11:23.160

trappings. Physical beauty has its place. It's needed but we must somehow look beyond the externals. There needs to be something deeper than physical attraction. One needs to have intelligence and so the King's intelligence is revealed in his words that win and fascinate the minds and

00:11:23.160 - 00:11:53.260

souls of his subjects. Mind and word you see are blessings beyond one's own existence on earth so we need to look beyond the surface and listen to the words of the psalmist as he says "Thou art fairer than the children of men Grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee forever. And for

00:11:53.260 - 00:12:24.600

me this is what sets the King apart in a special way. The Psalmist says, "Thy throne O God is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. You love righteousness and hate wickedness, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

00:12:24.600 - 00:12:50.760

Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes from ivory palaces, and stringed instruments make you glad. Above all that we have talked about in the outer trappings of this ceremony, there is something that is deeper than that, and that is the fact that the King is anointed with

00:12:50.760 - 00:13:14.520

the oil of gladness. The oil of gladness. Oh, how wonderful it is to be anointed of God. That was a very significant part of one's relationship with the eternal, the anointing

00:13:14.520 - 00:13:35.960

ceremony. Kings are anointed, prophets were anointed, priests are anointed, but here is a special kind of anointing the oil of gladness, oil of gladness. Oh, how our world needs gladness.

00:13:35.960 - 00:13:47.620

There's so much sadness in the world, and we need gladness. I'm not talking about some sort of silly grin that you go around with on your face all the time.

00:13:47.620 - 00:14:06.240

I'm talking about an attitude, a relationship, a spirit, a perspective on life. And no matter what happens, that you can somehow embrace life joyfully

00:14:06.240 - 00:14:20.640

and live your life courageously and victoriously. The all of gladness. Something very special to be anointed with the all of gladness.

00:14:20.640 - 00:14:37.280

The King is anointed with it. Now, what does that have to do with you and me? To be anointed with the oil of gladness. You say, "Well, Reverend, I'm not the king.

00:14:37.280 - 00:14:57.040

I don't have any royal blood in my veins." Well, yes, every one of us is a child of the king. Huey Long put it, he said, "Every man a king." Every person is made in the image of God and every person is precious in his sight and

00:14:57.040 - 00:15:40.160

every one of us can joyfully sing I'm a child of the King. So as children of the King we belong to the royal family and as his children we ought to have courtly manners, love righteousness, to remove obstacles to his righteousness. That's the way to embrace life because you see God has made every one of us to be beautiful creatures, be beautiful. Well you may not

00:15:40.160 - 00:16:11.560

have your face shaped the way you'd like to have it shaped for somebody else, but God made you the way you are. God made me the way I am. And we ought to be glad because we're the work of God. We ought to be glad about it. We ought not be ashamed of how God has made us. We ought to be able to lift up our hearts and be glad that we are creatures

00:16:11.560 - 00:16:28.120

is made in the image of God, precious in his sight. You ought to be glad. Then we should recognize the fact that God has made us to engage in a struggle.

00:16:28.120 - 00:16:50.640

He didn't make us to have an easy time. We're put in this earth. He said, have dominion over it. dominion. And that means there's gonna be a struggle. So life is a struggle every step of the way and we

00:16:50.640 - 00:17:18.160

ought to engage courageously in that struggle. And we ought to be glad that God gives us the strength to struggle. Oh sure you have your problems, you have your difficult situation, but be glad that God God has equipped you to engage in the struggle of life. It's a battle, but be glad that we are equipped to participate

00:17:18.160 - 00:17:31.600

in the battle. Be glad. All of gladness enables you to be glad of who you are and what you're called upon to do in the world.

00:17:31.600 - 00:17:41.420

be anointed with the oil of gladness, also recognizes the fact that you get wounded. We all get wounded in the struggle. Get wounded.

00:17:41.420 - 00:17:55.180

You get hurt. If you love people, you're gonna get hurt. The only way not to get hurt in the struggle is in that sense is not to love 'em.

00:17:55.180 - 00:18:06.620

And then if you don't love 'em, you get hurt anyway. You're doing most of the damage to yourself. So there's no way to live this, no way to participate in the struggle of life without getting wounded.

00:18:06.620 - 00:18:31.620

And it's not that you go out somehow to inflict any damage upon anybody else, but just because you are in the struggle, you get wounded, you suffer wounds. Man who's on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho is minding his own business. He's been up to worship, no doubt, at Jerusalem.

00:18:31.620 - 00:18:50.560

And he comes on his homeward journey and behold, he is attacked by robbers, thieves. Take everything that he has. They even strip him of his clothing

00:18:50.560 - 00:19:28.580

and leave him half dead, wounded, groaning. And there are those who pass him by, but there comes one along that way who comes right where he is and sees that he is wounded and he takes oil and anoints his wounds and takes him to an end and tells the innkeeper to take care of it.

00:19:28.580 - 00:19:49.580

So the awe of gladness, there is someone who anoints us when we are wounded with the awe of gladness. Oh, I know that sounds strange to some of you, but no matter how wounded you may become, there is one who anoints us with the awe of gladness.

00:19:49.580 - 00:20:02.740

I've seen in my ministry people who were seriously ill and in hospitals and at homes who were rejoicing, who were rejoicing on their sickbeds. They weren't cursing God.

00:20:02.740 - 00:20:13.180

That somehow in the midst of their wounds, in the midst of all of their sufferings, they had discovered something about people, something about how people loved them

00:20:13.180 - 00:20:25.580

and how they cared for them that caused them to rejoice even in the midst of their afflictions. See, all of gladness that God gives us. Only God gives you that kind of relationship,

00:20:25.580 - 00:20:36.180

that kind of understanding, that kind of attitude, the awe of gladness. And somehow as we look at this psalm, it has to do, first of all,

00:20:36.180 - 00:20:44.420

half of it has to do with the relationship of the king and the other half has to do with the relationship of the queen. They're both coming together.

00:20:45.660 - 00:21:01.260

and being anointed by God with the oil of gladness. Now this psalm was written many years ago. But somehow, those of us who live on this side of the cross,

00:21:01.260 - 00:21:20.340

can look into this psalm and we can see how it can be interpreted to help us understand what our relationship is to Christ and to the church. God somehow has sent Jesus Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the Messiah. He's the

00:21:20.340 - 00:21:46.300

anointed one. He's the one that has been anointed of God and everything that God is is somehow in Him and the all of gladness is there so that whatever happens He's able to accept it. Even the cross He's able to accept it. And we see Him on this side of the cross as he's walking with those who are on the Emmaus road and they're

00:21:46.300 - 00:21:58.740

talking about the awful things that have happened in Jerusalem and as he joins them and he said what are y'all talking about? And they tell him and he said don't you know, don't you know what had happened in Jerusalem in the last few days?

00:21:58.740 - 00:22:11.740

Those things that have occurred! And he said what things? And he said, "What things?" Somehow the glory of the Easter experience, the glory of the victory over the tomb, somehow

00:22:11.740 - 00:22:32.740

all of that has overshadowed the awful sufferings of the cross. To all of gladness, he's the anointed, and he's the one who anoints us. The one who is anointed of God has come right where we are and he anoints us with the oil of gladness.

00:22:32.740 - 00:22:49.020

We can be glad. We can be glad. Rejoice and be glad. That's what the psalmist was talking about when he said that he anoints my head with

00:22:49.020 - 00:23:11.020

oil. Talking about the eternal shepherd. We just as she. Somehow in the midst of the struggle we become wounded and somehow as we are wounded he comes and he takes us in his arms and he anoints our heads with oil. The all of gladness. The all of gladness.

00:23:11.020 - 00:23:24.020

So that we can say thanks be to God. Even in the midst of death itself, we can say thanks be to God who anoints our heads and our hearts

00:23:24.020 - 00:23:47.700

with the all of gladness. The all of gladness. Well, that's what the psalmist is talking about. Weeping may endure during the night, but joy comes in the morning.

00:23:47.700 - 00:24:19.420

The oil of gladness. So in your heart of hearts, I ask you today, have you been anointed with the oil of gladness? If someone would come from another planet and walk in to our church and sit in on our worship, I wonder would they be impressed that somehow we've been anointed with the

00:24:19.420 - 00:24:52.820

oil of gladness. Would somehow our demeanor reflect the fact that we are cheerful, no matter what happens, embrace life and say thanks be to God. I've had some problems, I've had some disappointments, but thank you God that I've learned somehow in the midst of it all, I've learned how to trust in Jesus and how to rely on him and I know what a great God he is.

00:24:52.820 - 00:25:12.820

The all of gladness. The all of gladness. Well, there is a place. There is a place where we can have poured upon us the all of gladness.

00:25:13.820 - 00:25:29.580

King and Queen Received it as they stood at the altar and were united in marriage There is another altar It's Calvary

00:25:29.580 - 00:25:52.700

It's Calvary It's now that we come and as we stand at Calvary that somehow our lives are anointed with the all of gladness And somehow we can face that there is a place, there is a place, there is a place, there

00:25:52.700 - 00:26:18.880

is a place where Jesus sheds the all of gladness on our heads. That's what makes the church the church. That's what makes the church the people of God in the world serving Him. I see the first apostles as they're suffering, they're beaten, and as they are beaten, the

00:26:18.880 - 00:26:41.180

historian says of them that they counted it joy to suffer shame in his name. Somehow they had been anointed with the oil of gladness. And when you've been anointed with the oil of gladness, the one who anoints us, and now when I put this all of gladness on you,

00:26:41.180 - 00:26:53.020

so you, when people speak all manner of evil against you, Faust, that you'll be able to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Great is your Father in heaven.

00:26:53.020 - 00:27:07.320

The all of gladness. That's what he gives us. When he comes, when he comes into our lives, he gives us the all of gladness.

00:27:07.320 - 00:27:32.160

Oh, see him as he walks into that synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day, and they give him the book to read. And he opens it to that passage in Isaiah, and he says, "The Spirit of the Lord God Almighty is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

00:27:32.160 - 00:28:00.160

He has anointed me to bind up the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to appoint unto them that morn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for morning." The oil of joy for morning.

00:28:00.160 - 00:28:15.980

Somehow as people of God, we need to understand that. Too often when something happens to us, when we want to mourn, we stay away from church. We don't think we need to come to church

00:28:15.980 - 00:28:39.140

when we want to mourn. But somehow, the oil of gladness is associated with the people of God and the house of God. He who gives us the oil of gladness, gives us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.

00:28:39.140 - 00:28:56.300

Joy. Joy in the midst of persecution. Joy even when we have tears stayed high as we can cry out. The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away.

00:28:56.300 - 00:29:20.540

Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's what it means to be anointed with the oil of gladness. In the midst of the storms, whatever may come, God equips us for that journey. As we sing, choir sings, we extend the privilege of the church.

00:29:20.540 - 00:29:45.540

[MUSIC] From every stormy wind that blows, there is joy in our world. There is a place where the saints retreat to follow the people that curse. There is a place where the people share the honor of gladness in our lives.

00:29:45.540 - 00:30:08.640

♪ What a wonderful world ♪ ♪ What a wonderful world ♪ ♪ From every stormy field and road ♪ ♪ From every swelling tide of foes ♪

00:30:12.480 - 00:30:31.280

♪ There is a home ♪ ♪ That you'll recreate ♪ ♪ 'Tis found beneath ♪ ♪ The mercy seat ♪

00:30:31.280 - 00:31:02.640

♪ There is a place ♪ ♪ And he forsaketh all the world ♪ ♪ For he forbids the world ♪ ♪ From endless sleep ♪

00:31:02.640 - 00:31:24.640

♪ He gives the power of God ♪ [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]